Investigation of adhesion and interface bond strength for pavements underlying chip-seal: Effect of asphalt-aggregate combinations and freeze-thaw cycles on chip-seal

•Interface bond test (IBT) was developed to directly evaluate bond performance of chip-seal with pavement.•Vialit test and IBT test were applied together to investigate the durability of chip-seal.•The multiple freeze-thaw cycle has significantly impact on the durability of chip-seal.•The combination of asphalt-aggregate cannot be ignored in chip-seal application. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the asphalt-aggregate combination and freeze-thaw cycle on the durability of chip-seal. The Vialit test was applied to investigate the adhesion of asphalt-emulsion and aggregate at low-temperatures. Tests were performed at −10, −22, and −26 °C for asphalt-emulsion based chip-seal. In addition, the Michigan Tech’s Interface Bond Test (IBT) was also employed to assess the interface bond strength between the chip-seal layer and asphalt pavement under varying temperatures and under a number of freeze-thaw cycles. Both tests indicated that the asphalt-aggregate combinations and freeze-thaw cycle had significant impact on the durability of chip-seal. The combination between asphalt-emulsion and aggregate cannot be ignored in chip-seal application. Such results suggest that the premature failure of the chip-seal is in part due to the raw materials used and the multiple freeze-thaw cycles suffered. Therefore, it is essential to select the appropriate combination of aggregate and asphalt-emulsion when considering the use of chip-seal, especially in cold weather areas.